In my opinion, the biggest risk to Bezos' wealth is the same thing that drew me into the service to begin with. In the mid-to-late 2000s it was easy to go to Amazon, search for "thing I want" and blindly purchase the 4.5-5 star item with enough reviews to appear legitimate. I could do this and expect to get a great product _every_ time. Now, I find myself spending an hour screwing with the filters and reading reviews to figure out which listings are noise with fake reviews and which ones are for real. And even then with many products fulfilled by Amazon, you end up having to read reviews to figure out which seller to buy from to get the real item and not a counterfeit. This combination of fake reviews and counterfeiting is what I think threatens Amazon's position. I don't make many large purchases on Amazon any more as a result of the risk, and those that I do make are fulfilled by the manufacturer so I know what I'm getting is legitimate.
reply

In a teardown of the newly-released MacBook Pro, iFixit noticed a curious addition to the keyboard—a thin silicone overlay placed around the butterfly switches for each key. According to Apple's press release, the official explanation for this is that the 2018 refresh of MacBook Pro systems have "an improved third-generation keyboard for quieter typing," which is a somewhat peculiar explanation—while some contend that the butterfly keyboards are louder than previous MacBook Pro keyboards, neither approached the clacky qualities of full-mechanical keyboards.

Apple is celebrating World Emoji Day on July 17 by sharing what some of the new emoji arriving to iOS, macOS, and watchOS later this year will look like, with the new batch featuring new hair options for characters and more expressions.

Had the Stream Deck for a few days now and I gotta say im really impressed so far. It feels like a very premium product and looks it too. The cord is not too long at only about 3 feet or so, and theres no option to extend it. The LCD screens are very vibrant and the buttons feel solid. When you use a button that is an on/off switch (like a source on OBS) the key will light up or dim depending on whether its activated or not. I can see them in the future possibly releasing updates to add more options to what you can do with the stream deck. Some things i would like to see are live streaming controls for youtube live because currently they only allow you do comment/stream through your twitch account and I have taken youtube gaming as my home for streaming. All the hotkeys that you can program are nice and you can even set buttons to bring up certain websites at the click of a button. The option to make folders is also a very good feature; though you can only have folders on the main page. I hope they allow for more folders within folders in the future. This has been a game changing device that i have been able to use for my streams, but ive also set up some pages for Photoshop tools, and am planning on doing one for the Sony Vegas Pro tools as well.

Uber is the target of a federal probe over a gender discrimination complaint, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal . The investigation by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has sought out information on gender-related issues like Uber’s hiring practices and pay discrepancies; the EEOC is also speaking with former and current employees.

The kit contains a central Hue hub and two LED A19 Energy Star color bulbs. They're your standard bulb size and easily screw into most lamps, overhead lights, ceiling fans, etc., just as any traditional bulb would. Download the Philips Hue smartphone app, pair with the included Hue bridge via WiFi, and bam: You have wireless control of your home's lighting with next to no extra work.

Rather than launch a rocket traditionally, Virgin Orbit sends Cosmic Girl to a plane's cruising altitude before deploying the rocket LauncherOne, which is safely stored under its left wing. From that altitude, Launcher One will make its way to orbit. This means that Virgin Orbit doesn't need to build a launch pad and support infrastructure for its delivery system; that gives it more launch flexibility than other rocket companies.

Welcome to the Amazon Devices Deals page. Come back frequently to see the latest discounts on Fire tablets, Kindle eReaders, Fire TV streaming media players, Amazon Echo, and Dash Button. Plus, find great deals on accessories for your Amazon devices like covers, cases, and remotes. Be sure to visit this page throughout the holidays so you don't miss out on any amazing offers. These deals are limited time offers, while promotional supplies last.

Today, we’re announcing that Pinterest has entered into an agreement to transfer ownership of Instapaper to Instant Paper, Inc., a new company owned and operated by the same people who’ve been working on Instapaper since it was sold to betaworks by Marco Arment in 2013. The ownership transfer will occur after a 21 day waiting period designed to give our users fair notice about the change of control with respect to their personal information.

Amazon Prime Day is winding down. The deals below will end tonight (Tuesday) at 11:59 p.m. PT (Wednesday, 2:59 a.m. ET). Be sure to keep a close eye on this post for the rest of today, as we will be updating it with new deals as we find them. Also, read our overview of the Prime Day deals from every product category. Good luck out there!

This year’s sale kicks off with impressive markdowns on everything from fashion and beauty to kitchen deals and, yes, even sex toys. Shoppers will find big-ticket items usually marked down only around the holidays at holiday-level prices. We’re talking $650 for a 55-inch 4K TV and 35 percent off select monitors and laptops.

8BitDo will happily sell you wireless controllers that are vaguely similar to classic gamepads of yore, but it clearly can't sell you the real deal without invoking massive copyright battles. It can, however, offer you the next best thing. The company is now selling mod kits that add Bluetooth wireless to original NES, SNES, Super Famicom and Mega Drive controllers. You don't need a soldering iron or a toolbox -- so long as you're comfortable opening a vintage gamepad in the first place, you'll have everything you need (including a lithium-ion battery) to avoid stringing cords across the room.

Amazon Prime Day is here. The online retailer's giant sale starts at noon PT (3 p.m. PT) and runs through Tuesday at 11:59 p.m. PT (Wednesday, 2:59 a.m. ET). If you're looking for charging cables, gaming and other electronics accessories, there are several Prime AmazonBasics products that are 30 percent off (or more in some cases) .

Apple has never claimed that the iPhone is indestructible, but another news story finds one of the devices continuing to work after falling hundreds of feet to the ground from an amusement park ride, while filming the descent the whole time.

Fond (formerly AnyPerk) is a perks and rewards platform used by over 500 companies across the U.S. from startups competing for top talent to Fortune 500 companies strengthening their employer brands. Fond helps customers build cultures of appreciation and recognition, knowing that happier employees make for better business. Some of our current customers include Salesforce, Adobe, Zappos and hundreds of others. We’re a YC W12 company and funded by renowned investors including DCM, Andreessen Horowitz, SV Angel, and Digital Garage. Some of our partners include Equinox, ZipCar and AMC Theaters.

This one is perhaps the most extraordinary moment of the press conference. When asked, point blank, by a journalist with the Associated Press who he believes — Putin, who denied interfering in the U.S. election, or U.S. law enforcement, who have clear evidence Russia was involved — if he would denounce Putin's interference and confront him, Trump gave the most bewildering answer.

Of course, you’ll have to really, really like the SNES to hop on this deal – or you could just apply a case if you’re really not down with the ‘90s aesthetic. This is the first time since Black Friday last year that we’ve seen such a low price for the New 3DS XL.

Razer's revamped Blade stands out in a sea of great gaming laptops. It's not the lightest, and it doesn't have the most powerful graphics hardware, but it's one of the most polished notebooks we've seen this year. Razer has always positioned its Blade machines as MacBook alternatives, and this latest model is the closest you'll get to a gaming-focused MacBook Pro. And just like Apple's machines, you can expect to pay a premium.

Scientists have discovered 10 never-before-seen moons of Jupiter in 2017 and confirmed two others that had already been seen, bringing the total number of known moons circling the gas giant planet to 79, more than any other planet in the solar system.

On Friday, Sprint adjusted its unlimited plan offerings to fall more in line with the two-tier system offered by AT&T and T-Mobile. You now have two Sprint options: For starters, the old $60-a-month Unlimited Freedom plan has been renamed Unlimited Basic and is now, frankly, a crappier deal. Video streaming quality has been reduced from HD to standard definition, and the hotspot allowance has been slashed from from 15GB to 500MB -- that's one-thirtieth as much data. But you can still get the benefits of the old Unlimited Freedom plan -- HD video and 15GB of hotspot data per month -- but it's now called Unlimited Plus. It costs $70 a month -- that's $10 more than before, but still one of the best values when compared to the other carriers.

Call recording and (openly documented) encrypted messaging are long-overdue features, and as a Skype user, it's about time that Microsoft is finally making some meaningful improvements to the core application. The consolidation on a single version of the client should in theory enable a faster pace of development, because Microsoft is no longer in the position of having to develop each new feature multiple times—once each for the Win32 app, the modern app, and the mobile apps. The work coming this summer will put that theory into practice.

T-Mobile is expanding its One plan to give travelers unlimited data and texting across 210 countries. Those who are on the road can use as much 2G data as they like at no extra cost, and the plan offers flat-rate calling at 25 cents per minute (which is an increase of five cents per minute). There's a new add-on pack which adds unlimited calling and 512MB of LTE data every day you're away at a cost of $5 per day, though you can use up to 5GB of data at LTE speeds in Mexico and Canada for no extra charge.

Sheppard's team named the weird new moon "Valetudo," after the Roman god Jupiter's great-granddaughter. Fun coincidence: Vale tudo (two words) also happens to be the name of "an unarmed, full-contact combat sport with relatively few rules": en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vale_tudo

It could take awhile for this amendment to be voted on (or it may never see the light of day), but the fact that it's being proposed by a Republican representative could mean good news. Of course, it depends on the makeup of Congress after the midterm elections, but either way, it will be interesting to keep an eye on this bill and see what happens.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co ( JPM.N ) has made a strategic investment in Volley.com, a San Francisco-based startup that uses artificial intelligence to help large enterprises automatically generate training content for employees, the companies said on Tuesday.

"The fight to keep the Internet open belongs in Congress, not at the Federal Communications Commission," Coffman said in his announcement. "The American people deserve to know that their elected officials, not unelected bureaucrats, are fighting for their interest. That fight begins with my bill, which will create an 'Internet constitution' with the foundational elements of net neutrality."

New - with $12.5m funding, an ex-Israeli PM co-founder, Tel Aviv firm Toka has come out of stealth today.
It's a one-stop hacking shop focusing on IoT.
The example co-founder and ex-IDF cyber lead gave me was rather interesting...
forbes.com/sites/thomasbr… pic.twitter.com/Dbg9nXRyiF

When I’ve written about Victoria’s Secret’s woes in the past, I’d suggested that the over-sexualized marketing wasn’t resonating with women in the post-#MeToo moment. But many Fast Company readers have been quick to disagree , pointing out that the real story is that the brand’s quality has dropped tremendously over the last few years. Consumers who had turned to Victoria’s Secret as a reliable source of high-quality bras and panties, say they are sorely disappointed by how quickly the garments fall apart, despite the fact that the brand still charges a premium price for them.